Originally Posted by
cbn42
While flying through DIA last week, I was unable to circumvent the body scanner and had to opt out. The guy doing the pat down was quite friendly and asked if I always opt out. I replied yes, and he pointed to the Clear lane and said something like "you know, you can avoid the scanners by paying like fifty dollars to get a membership to go through there".
So it seems like at least this particular TSO was well aware of the stupidity of the body scanners. What is the point of scanning people when anyone can pay a fee to avoid them? Furthermore, what does it say when a TSA employee himself says something like this?
PS I looked it up and it's a lot more than $50, but the principle is the same: pay money to avoid being scanned.
Clear is only good at a few airports: MCO, SFO, DEN, DFW and HPN. Also, it costs $175 a year and only gets you front of line privileges, which means you still get the NoS.
PreCheck is a better bang for the buck. 40+ airports have a Pre line and you don't get a NoS. You can get it by signing up for Global Entry ($100 for 5 years) or, if you're close to the Canadian border or travel there frequently, Nexus ($50 for 5 years).